everyone
Perhaps a heavy bag might be just as good?
Not exactly "sparring" but my guess is that you'll end up hurting your elbow with anything thick enough to render the blow "safe" for the wearer---which in turn will make the sparring less than "realistic" for you.
Several karate groups use "hard" armor and steel face masks----and a couple of problems seem to crop up with it....one of which is......
The stuff that can really hurt your has to do with bouncing your brain around on the inside of your skull----a situation that armor can't really prevent---the impact transmits thu the armor----sure you don't get a broken nose but you might get some brain damage---and the effects of such impacts seem to be cumulative.
As a genral rule I would advise being really careful with certain strikes when sparring-----the really thick protective gear renders such blows often less than seemingly effective and lesser gears can still transmit dangerous levels of force/impact.
That is why the gods (small "g"
) invented heavy bags.